Records: the RA Artillery
The Growing Role of Cannons The Crown interest and research of cannons was folded into the Artillery Company. Five warrant officers were attached to the company, and were the first military members of the Royal Society – and were now in close contact with Richard's original retinue, who had been (among other things) working on refining the formula for gun powder from the very beginning. Cannons were already becoming a major part of warfare, making its impact felt at the Battle of Crécy. Most of that artillery was either massive iron guns, transported then built into a wooden emplacement and used for siege, or anti-personnel ribaudekin. The ribaudekin was essentially a multi-barreled gun powder-powered volley machine, which would also be hauled and emplaced for use. After Crecy, France had recorded and learned the lessons as well. The artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy experienced their own surge, 1363-1477, enough for later scholars to study this early stage development of gunpowder in battle. The Research and Development of the ARA The Academy of Royal Arms had their "inspired" core, and further, they were working with the Royal Academy, the Order of Merlin and the Royal Company to produce arms that wouldn't have been seen on the battlefield for hundreds of years. Again, King Edward knew what the ROM was already capable of: the magical equivalent of heavy Directed Energy Weapons. He wanted that for the RA, but Richard refused – he was not going to make France's introduction to magic on the wrong side of artillery that could erase Paris overnight. Magic did assist, however, in developing alchemical black powder, gunpowder, metallurgy, ballistics, fuzing and weapon design to create the penultimate army. Cannon Design They were unleashing a new design and had been taking great pains to keep it secret. First, rather than iron, the Royal Company metalworks was producing high quality steel – including gun barrels about 6 feet in length. The relative strength of the metal allowed for much smaller barrels while still keeping large loads. The capacity for steel itself was still a secret, with the battalion’s first several months using bronze cannons cast in the Royal Company’s Metal Works. Further, the barrels were cast with trunnion, allowing the muzzle to raised or lowered. The cannons were compact enough that they could be operated with a five-man crew with 30 seconds between shots (better than many individual crossbows). Next, they mounted them on horse-drawn two-wheeled carriages with reinforced wheels, axles and trails. With the carriage trails providing leverage to the axle, once detached from the horse, the crew could quickly aim, fire, and change the cannon to a new target. Ammunition was iron balls: softer than the steel of the barrel, and far more accurate and powerful than the stone that was the current style. Packs of iron grapeshot were employed for extremely accurate, ranged anti-personnel fire. Finally, the gun powder produced in the Tower was already a more stable mixture, and they began corning it. That gave a much faster burning powder. The Royal Army's new steel guns could handle it, but the old iron guns could not. If the Army's powder had been distributed to the other lords (those authorized to own cannons), their cannons would've exploded. 'A license to produce' The primary gunpowder production facility of England was the Tower of London. That was the royal facility, and had manufactured the gunpowder that powered the campaigns of Edward III. Beyond the Tower, there were several gunpowder producers in England, including Portchester Castle and a number of castles on the Welch border. While a few castles produced it, it was still a battlefield novelty. Cannons were growing as siege engines, but personal arms would've remained elusive for another two centuries. Doubly amazing since there was enough for Roger Bacon to write about even as early as 1267 in his Epistola de secretis operibus artiis et naturae. Not surprisingly, musketeers and musket-wielding infantrymen were despised in society by the traditional feudal knights, even until the time of Cervantes (1547–1616 AD). At first even Christian authorities made vehement remarks against the use of gunpowder weapons, calling them blasphemous and part of the 'Black Arts'. By the mid-14th century, however, even the army of the Pope would be armed with artillery and gunpowder weapons. Long before the RC projectors, the momentum destined to obsolesce the English Longbow was already well underway. For the nobility that retained right to produce gunpowder after the Audit and Rectification, they were increasingly on their own to do so: the Tower of London formula was far too powerful for their cannons. The ROM did share, however, a few non-magical tricks, including add alcohol to the grinding and mixing processes. This was allegedly already used in a few shops in Europe, with the wet processes greatly enhanced safety and efficiency. They also shared the secret of corning the gunpowder. Each tiny piece provided its own surrounding air space that allowed much more rapid combustion than a fine powder. This "corned" gunpowder was from 30% to 300% more powerful, taking it to the very limits of the iron guns. The Artillery Company As part of the Royal Army Regiment, opposite the mobile infantry of "The Battalion," was the supporting Artillery Company. Individual artillery soldiers carried sword, shield and sidearms. The shield strapped to their back during combat, the sidearm was strapped to their thigh, while the swords were generally a few yards back from the cannon during operation. The sergeants called the shots for each platoon, while the two lieutenants guided target priorities. The captain took orders from battalion, and when there was line-of-sight visibility, had the largest telescope on the battlefield to track the damage, locate targets or correct firing coordinates. The size and capacity broke down the basic technical specifications of the cannons themselves. Each cannon could be operated with a 5-man crew at a maximum rate of 1 shot every 30 seconds. At that rate, they would burn through powder and cannonballs at a fantastic rate. The technical capacity also meant four (4) cannons to a standard RA platoon. The platoons generally remained grouped together for targeting and movement, meaning any single target would generally be on the receiving end of 4 shots per volley. With ten (10) platoons, that resulted in 40 cannons for the Company. Targets could be split up to 10 ways, or combined in any configuration, including targeting different portions of the same target. Single cannons had a very high degree of accuracy: they could destroy a castle gate without damaging the wall – or they could spread fire from a single platoon to the entire company and damage the entire length of a castle wall in single volley. 30 cannons were drawn directly by a single horse (who were detached from the gun and taken to safety away from the cannons prior to battle). 10 cannons were towed behind 2-horse War Wagons fitted for logistics, containing ammunition, gun powder, spare barrels, howitzer barrels, other spare parts and capacity to effect battlefield repairs. Equipment: * 213 artillery soldiers + 22 Wagon Crew (235 total soldiers) * 52 horses * 40 cannons * 10+1 wagons (including the command wagon) Category:Hall of Records Category:1377